22 January 2025 Sports betting

EXCLUSIVE: ‘Disrespected’ Fran Hennessy robbed of world championship fight on Price vs Jonas card

Written by: Charlie Dear Senior Sports Editor
3 min to read
Fran Hennessy: Boxer 'disrespected' by missing Price-Jonas card

Imago Fran Hennessy was expecting to feature on the undercard of Lauren Price's (pictured) fight with Natasha Jonas


A prominent boxing promoter came under fire from rising star Francesca Hennessy after they allegedly removed her World Championship fight from their huge Lauren Price vs Natasha Jonas fight night on 7 March.

Speaking exclusively to FIRST, Hennessy’s coach Bradley Skeete called the situation a ‘shambles’ after being invited down to the first news conference at London’s Dorchester Hotel only to be told Hennessy wouldn’t be on the card for the March showpiece. 

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The confused Hennessy also told FIRST: “If this was the start of my career [then so be it], but I feel in my career I’ve proven myself time and time again. I’d get it if I was asking for an easy touch on this card, [but] I’m not.

“In fact I was going to fight a world champion, that was agreed on both ends and for some reason it has not come through. So we’re all struggling to figure out what’s actually going on here.”

The 20-year-old has won all of her five professional fights at Super Bantamweight, most recently winning her first pro title by beating Brazilian Ana Karla Vaz De Moraes by decision at the Copper Box Arena in October 2024.

But this would have been her biggest opportunity to date to put her name on the map and fight a world champion in front of a packed house at the Royal Albert Hall on the eve of International Women’s Day. 

Hennessy explained: “I was told to come to the presser today [and] going to be announced on the card and I don’t really know what’s going on.

“I was told weeks ago I was fighting on this card, so I’m just a bit annoyed to be honest, I’ve been brought here today, I feel a bit disrespected.”

Skeete echoed his fighter’s feelings, equally feeling bemused at the situation: “It’s all up in the air. It’s a bit of a shambles to be honest. They got Savannah Marshall all the way down from Newcastle [and] she’s not even on the top table as well.

Hennessy has an unbeaten 5-0 record in her professional career. She felt this would be the platform she deserved to be rubbing shoulders on a big women’s card alongside famous names such as Price and Jonas as well as WBC lightweight champion Caroline Dubois and 2024 Olympian Cindy Ngamba.

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